It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to this very important function today. A very special welcome to the 14 Election Officials.

Today is indeed a significant day for the FEO since you will witness the contract signing of the first batch of the Election Officials for 2 polling stations.

The recruitment drive began in August last year Fiji wide in two phases. The recruitment was conducted through a computer based test. In order to deliver the 2018 General election successfully, the FEO needed around 12,000 election officials. At the conclusion of the recruitment drive the FEO had secured 17,016 applicants.

The positions available for the 2018 General Elections include Presiding Officers, Assistant Presiding Officers, Polling Day Workers and Venue Queue Controllers.

Training has also been conducted for those who were successful in their applications. I am pleased to inform you that as of yesterday, we have trained 11,092 applicants as Election Officials and 3,708 as Presiding and Assistant Presiding Officers.

There have been issues faced during this process. We still have over 500 Elections Officials who have not been paid their $45 training allowance due to incorrect bank details and unavailability of tax identification numbers (TIN).

Efforts to contact these applicants have been futile as their mobile phones were diverted. We have over 1,400 Election Officials who have attended the PO and APO training and have yet to be paid their $75 allowances due to lack of information supplied such as bank details, FNPF numbers and TIN.

We are in the process of contacting these applicants to furnish us with these documents however, we are hindered because their mobile phones are diverted.

Over 800 Election Officials who are eligible for training could not be contacted.

Details of these category of applicants will be posted on the FEO website and Facebook page. Applicants who fall in this category are urged to visit the nearest Fijian Elections Office and provide us with these documents or call us on Toll free number 1501.

Please note that those who fail to submit these important documents, won’t be considered for any Election Official position for the 2018 General Election.

The FEO has now successfully allocated 1,312 polling stations.

We are now in the process of printing contracts and distributing them to the respective Divisional Offices for signing by the applicants. This process starts today and will continue until 23 March, 2018. Successful applicants will be receiving an SMS on their mobile phones advising them of the time and venue to sign their contracts.

Those who failed to meet our Election Officials selection criteria, will also be informed in the next 2 weeks that their applications have been unsuccessful.

For those of you who will be signing contracts from today, it is important to know that if you change your address or any other personal details, you must inform the nearest FEO office as soon as possible.

We will need this information to confirm that you are assigned to an appropriate polling venue on Election Day and to ensure that there are no hiccups in payment following the end of your contract.

On behalf of the Supervisor of Elections I wish to congratulate all of you who have been successful in your application for the various positions. Now the focus will be on you to work very closely with the FEO in order to deliver a successful and credible election.

And do remember that the 2018 General Election is a platform for the Fijians to express their will with confidence, security and freedom.

Vinaka.

FEO Directors with Confirmed Election Officials for 2018 General Elections